Thursday, December 31, 2015

Syrian President
Assad will remain in power, Iraq will move closer to fragmenting, the
Islamic State will consolidate its hold on parts of Syria and the current
Iraq, and Israel will not make peace with the Palestinians. The US will
block the Palestinian's bid for recognition as a state by the United
Nations. In short, 2015 will not see major changes in the Middle East.

Trump will not win
the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

After a divisive,
polarizing campaign, the US will elect Hillary Clinton its first female
president.

Republicans will
retain control of the US House of Representatives and Democrats will control
the Senate.

The Middle East
will remain in turmoil: Yemen's insurrection will continue; the Saudi
regime will face more open opposition; Assad will continue to cling, just
barely, to power; Iraq will move closer to fracturing, with the Kurds
exercising increased autonomy; Afghanistan will continue to destabilize;
and Iran will remain an international pariah. The US will send more troops
to the Middle East. Russia, the US, and other nations – divided by
opposing aims – will not implement cooperative policies or actions in the
Middle East.

China will struggle
to maintain a rate of economic growth sufficient to pacify its population
and keep its Communist overlords in power while concurrently flexing its
economic, military, and political muscles abroad.

Economics

The price of oil
will remain below $60 per barrel. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) will show signs of fraying as its member states
experience increasing financial difficulties linked to oil's persistently
low price.

The US economy will
continue to grow slowly with stock prices ending the year up,
unemployment down, and wages finally showing some, albeit slow, growth.
Interest rates will continue to inch upwards.

Social and cultural

Aging populations
in the US and Japan will be the catalysts for a gradual erosion of youth
worship and increased social appreciation and valuing of the elderly.

Deniers of climate
change will become further marginalized, akin to people who claim that
the earth is flat. Unfortunately, increased demand for energy generated
using carbon based fuels in China, India, and Africa will outweigh the
benefits global efforts to slow climate change.

Anti-Muslim
sentiments will continue to escalate, exacerbated by both the threats
posed by ISIS and non-state terror groups as well as an unstoppable flood
of immigrants out of the Middle East.

Support for
decriminalizing marijuana will continue to build as will support for
reducing/eliminating mandatory sentences for many drug related offenses.

Cultural conflict
will continue in the US over same sex marriage and abortion.
Nevertheless, same sex marriage will find increasing acceptance.
Abortion, however, will remain an acrimonious, polarizing issue that
further entangles Planned Parenthood and other providers.

Although Congress
will fail in renewed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, healthcare
costs will continue to grow faster than the general rate of inflation as
will anger over the excessive cost of prescription drugs and awareness of
the dysfunctionality of the US approach to healthcare.

Monday, December 28, 2015

My first Ethical Musings' post
for 2015 was a set of predictions for the year. In this post, I review my
accuracy, annotating each prediction (green type
denotes an accurate prediction and red type a
missed prediction):

World affairs

Syrian President
Assad will remain in power, Iraq will move closer to fragmenting, the
Islamic State will consolidate its hold on parts of Syria and the current
Iraq, and Israel will not make peace with the Palestinians. The US will
block the Palestinian's bid for recognition as a state by the United
Nations. In short, 2015 will not see major changes in the Middle East. Sadly, all of these predictions were correct. The
Middle East remains as war torn as at the beginning of 2015. If anything,
the situation has worsened because of heightened levels of conflict in
Yemen.

Although terror
attacks will continue, no nation will experience a terror attack on the
scale of the 9/11 attacks. This prediction was
also correct. The Paris attacks were not of the magnitude of the 9/11 attacks.

Regardless of the
outcome of talks intended to prevent Iran from developing nuclear
weapons, neither the US nor Israel will attack Iran. Talks to end Iranian nuclear weapon development appear
to have succeeded, contingent upon Congressional action and mutual
implementation.

Afghanistan will
continue to disintegrate. Afghanistan's
central government has continued to lose control of its territory; the US
has deferred final withdrawal of combat troops.

Global climate
change will continue to worsen, indicated by an increase in the number of
major storms and other unusual weather phenomena, and few nation states
or multi-national corporations will implement major initiatives to
reverse those changes. 2015 was the warmest year
on record with an increased number of major storms. The Paris climate
change talks ended successfully. Unfortunately, the results contained recommendations
rather than firm commitments.

The Ebola epidemic
will worsen and then lessen after development of an effective vaccine and
of improved treatment for those with the virus. Thankfully,
this prediction was wrong.

Economics

The price of oil
will drop to $40 (or lower) per barrel before rebounding, but it will not
hit $80 by year's end (OPEC appears committed to keeping production high;
increased US production will more than offset any disruptions to Russian
oil and gas production). Not only did the
price of oil fall below $40 per barrel, it has not rebounded.

US stocks will have
another good year (up maybe 10%), primarily because of a lack of good
alternative investments (bonds will perform poorly – see my next
prediction). Major stock market indices ended
2015 down.

Interest rates will
rise slowly in the US, starting sometime in the second half of the year. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates in December.

The US housing
market will continue its slow recovery in spite of a rising cost of
mortgages (because of an increase in interest rates). Correct – the end of the year decline in sales
appears driven by HUD mandated process changes rather than actual slowing
of sales.

Europe will
continue to totter on the brink of another recession, experiencing what
is at best an anemic recovery. Correct.

Social and cultural

The US Supreme
Court will hear a case about the legality of same sex marriage and rule
in favor of it. Correct.

The US Congress and
President will remain at odds, stalemating most legislation, but somehow
avoiding another government shutdown. Correct.

The following
trends will continue unabated: increased secularism, diminished
religiosity, increased utilization of wireless devices in spite of
continuing government surveillance, and the widening gap between affluent
and poor (i.e., the middle class will continue to disappear). Correct.

Tensions between
whites and blacks will erupt into open conflict one or more times in the
US. This will underscore what the events of 2014 demonstrated so
graphically: race relations may have improved, but still are far from
Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a society in which people are judged
by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. Correct.

The Episcopal
Church will not elect a white male as its next Presiding Bishop. Correct: The Episcopal Church elected the Rt. Rev.
Michael Curry, an African American who was Bishop of the Diocese of North
Carolina, as Presiding Bishop.

Overall, 14 of my 16 predictions were correct for a
batting average of 87.5%.

My next post will consist of my predictions for
2016.

The process of making predictions encourages
reflection about larger trends too often obscured by a general tendency to
focus on immediate and individual events. Checking one's accuracy keeps the process
honest. Of course, it is impossible to quantify whether one's predictions are
obvious or seen only dimly and then with difficulty.

However, making predictions and then reviewing
one's accuracy is probably more productive (and certainly more enjoyable!) than
making resolutions about changes that one has little intent of keeping
(otherwise, one would already have made the change!).

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Spending Christmas in Hawaii for the first time in
twenty years has poignantly reminded me that most Christmas customs have pagan
origins linked to the winter solstice and cold weather rather than to the birth
of Jesus. Similarly, the gospel accounts of Jesus' birth reflect a mixture of
sources that are mostly unrelated to anything Jesus taught or lived (cf. John
Spong's Born
of a Woman for a fuller exposition of this).

Jesus was born. That statement seems irrefutable to
me. Claiming that the entirety of Jesus' life, teachings, and the Christian movement
that emerged after his death has no factual basis, whatsoever, is ludicrous.

However, claiming to know much more than Jesus was
born also seems ludicrous. The authors of the four gospels, the four
biographies of Jesus included in the New Testament, wrote theological treatises
intended to support their religious beliefs. The gospels do not contain
history, if by history one means the
chronological recording of factual events.

If Christianity is to be credible in the
twenty-first century, then Christians should stop literalizing the gospels. No Roman
census brought Jesus' parents to Bethlehem, Jesus was not born in a manger, shepherds
did not rejoice in the fields, and magi did not visit.

Instead of trivializing the Christmas story by
insisting on its factual accuracy, the real meaning of Christmas lies in the messages
that the gospel authors intended to convey. For example, the authors wanted to emphasize
Jesus' identity as a descendant of King David (the census took the Holy Family
to Bethlehem), Jesus' humility (born in a manger), the joy that people who know
God's love experience (the shepherds rejoice), and the universality of God's love
(the Gentile magi's visit).

Similarly, what is the Christianized meaning of the
Christmas customs that you observe? For example,

Snow (or a bright
sunny day) may make the whole world seem new, for in Jesus Christians believe
that they join God in singing a new song.

Evergreen trees
(even or perhaps especially artificial trees!) underscore that God's love
for us is eternal.

Decorations and
festive dress communicate and enhance expressions of joy.

Exchanging cards and
gifts renews the bonds between people, bonds that extend to all people,
which is why charitable giving is so prominent at Christmas.

May the story of Christmas – the story of God's love
for us, present and active in our world – be part of your story this season and
always. Mele Kalikimaka! (That's
Hawaiian for Merry Christmas).

Monday, December 21, 2015

Reading a biography of Woodrow Wilson, several
aspects of life in the late 19th century caught my attention:

Football was
popular, comparable in roughness even then to the British game of rugby.
Wilson, who was decidedly not athletic, coached the Princeton football
team for a couple of years during his time as a professor at that university.
He, like many of his contemporaries, regarded sports as affording
participants the benefits of competition, physical exercise, and spending
time outdoors. In contrast to the semi-pro status of modern college athletics,
a majority of 19th century collegians participated in at least
one sport. Similarly, Wilson occasionally took cycling holidays of several
weeks duration.

Doctorates, at least
in the humanities, represented mastery of an entire discipline, not merely
a tiny subsection of a discipline.

He wrote thousands
of letters, e.g., sending a missive to his wife each day they were apart.
Unlike phone calls, text messages, and tweets, Wilson's epistles were
lengthy expositions of his thoughts, feelings, and ideas gleaned from
lectures, readings, and conversations.

Admittedly, Woodrow Wilson was an exceptional individual.
I suspect, however, that he offers an example we would do well to emulate:

Writing affords an
opportunity to organize one's thoughts, to identify one's feelings, and to
reflect on the ideas, events, and people that one encounters.

In the US and some other places, New Year's brings
with it a cultural expectation of making resolutions, that is, setting goals for
the next twelve months. The first Sunday of Advent marked the beginning of a
new Christian year. Both Advent and Lent are traditional Christian seasons of
self-examination.

Pause for a few moments during the last remaining days
of Advent. If your Christmas preparations are done, then you deserve a
refreshing break. And if you are way behind on completing your Christmas preparations,
then you're unlikely to finish them, probably feel overwhelmed, and need as
well as deserve a refreshing break. The joy of Christmas is lost when one
collapses from exhaustion (or near exhaustion) on Christmas.

Pausing affords a valuable opportunity not only to
re-energize but also to begin assessing the past year.

Did you take care of
yourself? You only have one body.

Have you kept your
priorities in order, taking care of the important items and dealing with
the other stuff, no matter how urgent it may seem, only as time allows?

This clarity began to dissolve in college when I studied
world religions and learned about a host of divergent spiritual practices,
e.g., yoga, zazen, nature mysticism, and Tantrism. During this time, I was
exposed to the now largely forgotten charismatic renewal movement. Comprised of
Christians dissatisfied with the perceived aridness of the mainline Protestant
and Roman Catholic Churches, participants in the charismatic renewal often acted
as if the most valuable spiritual practices were those linked to the Holy
Spirit's gifts.

Then in seminary, while employed by a Quaker social service
agency in a state prison, one of the men I with whom I worked, who was serving
time for multiple felony convictions, vigorously asserted that using cannabis
was a spiritual practice for him. Subsequently, a man on the fringe of my first
parish introduced me to Carlos Castaneda's writings about Native American
shamanism in Mexico and their use of peyote. These incidents complemented
concurrent news stories about controversial efforts to demonstrate LSD and
cannabis' alleged ability to expand consciousness and deepen spiritual
awareness.

When the locus of my ministry shifted from the parish to the
military, I met and had chaplain colleagues, supervisors, and subordinates from
dozens of different faith traditions. A Conservative rabbi's spiritual
practices, centered on observing the Torah, are mostly distinctive from those
of an Imam or fundamentalist Baptist minister. I also had my introduction to
evangelical parachurch organizations, especially the Navigators, Officers' Christians
Fellowship, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. These groups send lay
people to minister full-time to military personnel and their families,
generally expecting the person (or couple) to solicit contributions to cover
their expenses, stipend, and a proportionate share of the organization's
expenses. These missionaries teach spiritual practices that emphasize personal
commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior followed by a life of ever-deepening
discipleship. Discipleship connotes scripture memorization, adherence to a
strict code of personal morality, an extended period of tutoring by a mature
Christian mentor (often a staff person), tithing as a minimum standard of
giving, and indoctrination into the group's version of theological orthodoxy.
And finally, toward the end of my active duty, I dealt with Wiccans, whose
spiritual practices are far more akin to magic or alchemy than to traditional
Christianity.

Adherents of these practices aim, given their diverse
theological or philosophical beliefs, to cultivate the human spirit and the
human spirit's relationship to ultimate reality. Beyond that commonality of
intent, this bewildering and still-expanding array of spiritual practices
(e.g., some spiritual but not religious persons describe football games or gym
sessions as their spiritual practice) includes much that is contradictory and
mutually exclusive. Like many post-modern people, I struggled to formulate an
approach to spirituality that both identifies what is truly spiritual and practices
helpful in developing that aspect of my life.

I started with the widely held idea that human spirit connotes an eternal soul,
i.e., the everlasting spark or image of God in a person. Yet mystics in many
traditions stress that God is ineffable and infinite. God therefore eludes
human definition. In time, I realized that thinking of the human spirit as the eternal soul poses a similar unsolvable puzzle This
approach also requires explaining how, and perhaps when, ensoulment occurs,
i.e., how and when a human acquires her/his soul or spirit. Furthermore, this
approach creates problems of body-spirit dualism with which theologians,
philosophers, and scientists have wrestled unsuccessfully since Descartes.
Finally, it's far from certain that the Christian Scriptures unambiguously support
belief in an eternal soul.

Eventually, I tentatively adopted an alternative approach:
identifying the human spirit as that
which is quintessentially human. This approach advantageously avoids the
problems associated with body-spirit dualism and with locating the exact moment
of ensoulment because evolution, and not ensoulment, produced the human spirit.
Thus, each aspect of the human spirit has a biological basis and is observable
to lesser degrees in some other species. Importantly, not every aspect of human
uniqueness is necessarily an element of the human spirit. For example, blushing
is unique to humans but this ability does not appear integral to the
quintessence of being human.

Research and reflection have led me to hypothesize that the
human spirit consists of six distinct but overlapping facets:

Self-awareness (sometimes
described as self-transcendence)

Linguistic ability (especially
the symbolic use of language, which enables humans to find meaning in life
and to build community)

The aesthetic sense (art
can add depth to life, offer a fresh perspective and increase
self-awareness, improve communication, and contribute to community)

Creativity (humans have
introduced significant novelty into the cosmos, unlike any other species,
and implicitly poses questions of value, i.e., it points to moral
concerns)

Limited autonomy (located
between determinism and freedom, but probably closer to the former than to
the latter)

Loving and being loved
(sometimes called reciprocal altruism, but that term minimizes the
importance of emotion for this facet of the spirit; this facet explicitly
adds a moral dimension to spirituality).

Together these six facets, sketched succinctly above,
comprise the quintessence of what it means to be a human, i.e., the human
spirit. (Incidentally, the Episcopal Café's layout implicitly presumes that the
human spirit has these six facets.)

This conception of the human spirit has provided me with a workable
framework for shaping and assessing my spiritual life and for helping others to
do likewise. Additional research may identify stages or levels of spiritual
development. More broadly, the framework should also prove useful for assisting
congregations to evaluate and to shape corporate worship, spiritual formation
programs, and other activities in ways designed to cultivate spiritual growth
and development.

In the meantime, I no longer give inquirers a catalogue of theoretically
spiritual practices from which to choose ones that seem attractive. Instead, I
explain that beneficial spiritual practices are habits that assist an
individual in developing or more fully living into one or more facets of the human
spirit. An individualized, balanced rule of life addresses all six facets in a
way that the person will find appealing, practical, and sustainable.

For example, the daily office may help an individual to develop
a fuller sense of self-awareness and improve his/her linguistic capacity. Various
forms of analysis, spiritual direction, and devotional reading may provide
similar benefits. Spending time in nature, whether walking in the woods,
tending a garden, or snorkeling may awaken a person's aesthetic sense,
prompting ponderings about beauty and origins of life. Another person may find
that painting, sculpting, or visiting an art museum provides the same type of
catalyst. Exercising one's limited autonomy may entail engaging in creative
activities (e.g., art, writing, or programming) or becoming more intentional
about one's use of time, talent, or treasure. Learning to love and to accept
being loved more fully may involve a plethora of practices including volunteering
in a church or non-profit, marital or family therapy, or participating in
Cursillo.

These brief comments hopefully suggest the potential that
clarity about the human spirit holds for shaping individual and corporate
spiritual practices. If we wish to remain credible in our post-modern,
evidence-based society, then we need to replace vague notions of spirituality
with clearer, more robust concepts.

Monday, December 14, 2015

The amount of territory
that ISIS, the self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate, controls is diminishing.
Syrian rebel groups, Iranian surrogates, Kurdish forces, and Iraqi forces
are all gaining ground in their battles with ISIS.

Disenchantment among
the people that ISIS rules is growing. ISIS' inability to establish an
approximation of justice, deliver essential social services, and perform
other basic government functions feed that unrest and dissatisfaction.
Harsh, unmerciful laws, policies, and punishments, many of which lack a
Koranic mandate, further alienate governed peoples.

Recruits and
prospective recruits attracted by ISIS' ideology are fleeing ISIS in a
small but increasing trend.

State opposition to
ISIS is quickly becoming universal, uniting disparate states that include
Russia, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, the US, the UK, France, and others.

First, ISIS does not recruit, aid, or oversee homegrown
US killers such as the couple responsible for the mass murders in San
Bernardino. Although the couple found ISIS' rhetoric attractive and perhaps
inspirational, this couple was a "time bomb" in waiting. Had ISIS not
existed, another group's radical ideology would probably have caused this couple
to "detonate."

The best steps toward preventing similar future
incidents include (1) ending the American gunslinger culture, (2) implementing
effective gun control programs, and (3) adopting policies to improve justice in
the US and especially in the Middle East. To achieve the latter, the US should
adopt policies that equitably balance Palestinian and Israeli concerns/aspirations,
end support for exploitative tyrannies such as those in Syria and Saudi Arabia,
and give Islam and Muslims the same respect given to Christianity and Christians.

Furthermore, public opinion leaders in the US
should dial down their rhetoric. ISIS does not pose an existential threat to
the US. Even if one considers the incident in San Bernardino to be a terrorist attack,
which I do not (cf. The
San Bernardino killings: crime or terrorism?), the incident was only
indirectly related to ISIS.

Second, sending more US troops to fight ISIS
actually helps ISIS. Few people in the Middle East want foreign troops – any foreign
troops – on their soil. The battle against ISIS is one that only the peoples of
the Middle East can win. This, in fact, is what they are doing. The US is
neither a global cop nor omnipotent. We can encourage, we can provide humanitarian
assistance, and, in very limited ways, provide military equipment and
munitions. Anything else is counterproductive, at least in the long run.
Demagoguery unhelpfully panders to fear; genuine leadership devises effective,
ethical responses and then sells those responses to decision makers and the
public.

ISIS is losing. We need to stay the course,
confident in our choices and security.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Yesterday was the second Sunday of Advent. Two of
the readings highlighted the importance of preparing the way for the Messiah.
The sermon that I preached addressed that theme by noting that preparations
always entail, first, expectations or hope and, second, work. For what should Christians
hope at Advent? What is the work of preparation associated with that hope? For more,
read my sermon
at Ethical Musings.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

A husband and wife team killed fourteen people in
San Bernardino, California, this week. The woman, shortly before embarking on
the killing spree, apparently pledged her loyalty to an ISIS leader over the
internet.

Were the killings criminal acts or acts of
terrorism?

That question is somewhat misleading. Terrorism is
a crime. Thus, at a minimum, the killings were crimes. However, were the killings
terrorist acts?

Terrorism is purposeful activity. Terrorists have
political agendas that they hope to achieve by inflicting terror, perhaps harm,
on innocent third parties. Yet the killers in San Bernardino made no demands.
No organization made any political demands of the US or another government
either before or after the killings. Nor could anyone realistically expect that
killing fourteen, or even fourteen hundred, innocent people in California would
inflict existential harm on the US. Furthermore, although ISIS' rhetoric may
have influenced this husband and wife team of killers, there is no public evidence
at this time that ISIS contributed to the planning or execution of the
killings.

In sum, the San Bernardino killings do not satisfy
the definition of terrorist activity widely accepted by academics, intelligence
agencies (e.g., the FBI and CIA), and the military.

Classifying the killings as criminal activity (mass
murder) instead of terrorism is an important distinction. Terrorism confers an
unwarranted elevation of status on the perpetrators. The killers were
criminals, nothing more. Describing them as terrorists implicitly encourages
other miscreants to emulate their evil acts. (To learn more about developing an
effective an ethical counterterrorism, read Just
Counterterrorism available through Amazon).

The primary threat from human killers that the US and
its citizens face today is from homegrown murderers. In 2015 alone, the US has
had 355 incidents in which a killer murdered five or more persons. Several
observations will help keep that problem in perspective.

First, the odds of dying in a vehicle accident are
more than ten times the odds of being killed in by a mass murderer. Hopefully,
you wear a seatbelt, don't drive while under the influence of alcohol or other
substances, and generally observe traffic regulations and laws. But I'm willing
to bet that you still routinely travel by automobile without worrying about
your safety. Mass murders are a serious problem that we should try to stop, but
we need to keep the problem in perspective and not devote excessive resources
to the problem.

Second, Australia has not had a mass murder in
almost twenty years. In response to their last murder, Australia's Conservative
led government enacted mandatory waiting periods before purchasing firearms,
mandatory screening to be completed before a person can purchase a firearm, and
bans on most private ownership of automatic weapons, semi-automatic weapons,
and pump shotguns. These efforts worked. Timely intervention by police and
citizens now prevents a criminal intent on mass murder from succeeding. The US
should enact and vigorously enforce similar legislation.

Third, public opinion leaders in the US should
strive to deglamorize weapons and weapon ownership. The idea is a shibboleth that
the Second Amendment to the US Constitution's guarantee of the right to bear
arms prevents tyranny. If personally owned weapons were sufficient to overthrow
tyranny, then groups opposed to tyrannical regimes in Syria and elsewhere would
not invariably clamor for foreign air support and military assistance. Minutemen
responding with muskets may have helped to win the American Revolution, but individual
weapons – even the most advanced automatic weapons – are no match for a
well-trained, well-equipped dedicated armed force that has heavy armor, air
power, etc.

In the aftermath of the San Bernardino attack, the
President of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell, Jr., called for Liberty
students to carry concealed weapons to prevent a similar incident from
happening on the Liberty campus. I find it embarrassing that he, like I,
considers himself a Christian. Guns are not the answer. Students carrying
weapons will only incite further incidents. Instead, Christian leaders should
start a campaign to repeal the Second Amendment's guarantee of a right to bear
arms.

In Poland and England, about one in a million people
die each year from a homicide committed with a gun. That's about the same odds
as dying from an agricultural accident in the US. In the US, the rate of deaths
from a gun is about 31 in a million per year. It's time to end the slaughter.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

When I was a Navy chaplain, I spent most of my time working
with people who did not participate in organized religion. Intriguingly, individuals
who considered themselves Christian but who did not attend church often asked
me, "Why should I attend worship?" If they were interested, I gave
them my answer to their question. Suspecting that those present for worship
services attended for various reasons, I occasionally addressed the question in
a sermon.

Now, reflecting on three decades of ministry, I realize that
my answer to that perennial question changed several times, morphing from a
simple we worship because God commands it, citing, e.g., the fourth commandment,
to Anglican pastoral vagueness of encouraging individuals to do what is
helpful, to offering a fresh perspective on worship.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the noun
"worship" as "the feeling or expression of reverence and
adoration for a deity." That definition coheres well with what I learned
about worship in seminary, traditional explanations of why Christians should
worship, and my answers to the question early in my ministry.

However, I now view that definition of worship as highly problematic.
A God who desires – if not demands – human adoration appears grotesquely
narcissistic. Such a god seems to be nothing more than a divinized celebrity
whose insatiable ego needs prompt ever-more outrageous behaviors to command
public attention.

Rethinking worship pushed me intellectually and spiritually
to recollect my goals as a priest. In seminary, I read H. Richard Niebuhr's The
Purpose of the Church and its Ministry. His cogent summary of that purpose
as the increase of the love of God and neighbor has consistently guided my
ministry.

How can (or should) worship increase our love of God and of
neighbor?

The answer to the second part of that question, increasing
our love for our neighbors, seems more self-evident than the answer to the
question's first part. In communal worship, neighbors – from near or far – gather.
Sharing the peace and receiving Holy Communion from broken bread and a common
cup are visible signs that we are God's family. These acts invite us to deepen
our relationships with one another. The readings, prayers, and often the sermon
emphasize loving one's neighbor. Even the use of the first person plural in
prayers and the Nicene Creed remind us that life is not an individual existence
but a communal journey.

Answering the first part of that question, how worship
increases love for God, required a significant shift in my thinking about
worship. Traditional teachings about worship tend to objectify God, even if
that is unintended. This can easily make God seem unreal, the impassive and
often unknown object of worshipers' adoration, praise, etc.

The shift in my thinking was actually subtle and occurred
over a number of years. Instead of telling people that they should worship
because God commanded it, I realized that I had begun suggesting that people
attend worship because it was often the only hour set aside each week in which
to think intentionally about God.

Then I started to consider how thinking about God and one's
relationship with God might be a catalyst for an increased love of God. My
thoughts kept returning to two verbs: connect and align.

When I love someone, I want to connect with that person. God
is omnipresent and wants to connect with me. The barriers to connecting with
God are all on my side of the relationship. These barriers may include a lack
of desire to connect with God, faults or personality traits believed to prevent
one from having a relationship with God, or a lack of attention to God.

Evangelism efforts, including some preaching, often presume
a lack of desire to connect with God. Evangelism has earned a deservedly bad reputation
for using egoism to try to motivate people to desire a relationship with God.
This generally entails proclaiming Christ as the alternative to spending
eternity in Hell. That is, one should desire God as a means to satisfy the selfish
desire to avoid hell. Manipulation of this type, even if well-intentioned,
unhelpfully supplants the moving of the Spirit, for which loving one's neighbor
is often the best catalyst.

Some people imagine that sin is a barrier to having a
relationship with God. One may have the hubris to believe that s/he has
committed the unpardonable sin or too little self-respect to believe that God
can even love her/him. I once had a parishioner who had been an ardent and
regular attendee at worship. Then he sinned in some way that he deemed so
horrific he could not even summon the courage to name it. He was convinced that
if he entered the nave, the roof would collapse and injure everyone present.
The good news of the gospel is that God loves us just as we are. Neither sin,
pride, narcissism, lack of ego strength, nor anything else diminishes God's
love for us.

Mindfulness training, such as that taught in centering
prayer and various forms of meditation, aims to improve attention to God.
Widespread western interest in the meditation practices of eastern religions
highlights our neglect of this essential element of the Christian tradition.
Worship becomes undeniably relevant when it helps attendees to connect with
God.

Yet real love entails more than a connection. Illustratively,
real love between two people is not hooking up for one night but denotes an
ongoing pattern of healthy mutuality. Inevitably, real love changes both of the
parties in a relationship.

Christian theologians have historically emphasized God's
immutability. Nevertheless, the Bible repeatedly describes God as having a new
or altered thought/intention. One possible explanation, advocated by some
process theologians, is that God's omniscience does not extend into the future.
If so, human thoughts, words, and actions may sometimes change God's thoughts
or intentions.

I know (NB: I am certain on this point, whereas less than
certain about God) that having a relationship with God changes a person. The
more I love God, the more deeply I want to enter into that relationship, the
more I want to become like God. This attraction stems from who God is rather
than any desire for personal gain or aggrandizement. When I connect with God, I
want to align my life in a pattern of ongoing healthy mutuality with God that
inevitably changes me.

Conceptualizing worship's purpose as (1) increasing the love
of God by helping people to connect and then to align themselves with God and
(2) increasing the love of neighbor has given me a theological framework for
understanding the what and how of worship.

Liturgy is not merely a laundry list of activities assembled
and sanctified by tradition or personal preference. Instead, good liturgy
invites people to gather, to seek intentionally to connect and to align their lives
with the one who is life itself, to enter more deeply into a community that
seeks to incarnate that life on earth, and then to go into the world to love
God and neighbor more fully.

Worship's two-fold purpose also contextually guides my
liturgical choices within the penumbra of that branch of God's family in which
I live and minister, the Episcopal Church: rites, forms, manual acts, music,
homiletic moves, etc.

Most importantly, I have what I believe is a credible and
comprehensible twenty-first century answer to the perennial question, "Why
should I worship?" My answer no longer depends upon guilt to motivate
attendance (God said to attend implies one should feel guilty when absent) nor idiosyncratic
personal preference (make the sign of the cross or kneel as seems helpful).
Worship is an opportunity to connect with the mystery that we name God, more
fully align one's life with the one who is life itself, and to grow in love for
one's neighbor.